Capital prompt in 61-34 blowout of St. Albans

ByD.J. Williams

Kenny Kemp

Capital's Cliff Pratt tries to break free from the grasp of St. Albans' Tristan Allen.

There was no lightning to delay Capital this week.

Freshman quarterback Tyhree Pratt continued his hot start, throwing for 229 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 69 yards and a touchdown as Capital rolled past St. Albans 61-34 Friday night at Crawford Field.

Last week, Capital was forced to wait an hour-plus after traveling two hours to Greenbrier East due to a lightning delay before taking home a 42-21 victory.

Friday's game started on time, and so did the Cougars.

After being forced into a three-and-out on its first possession, Capital's Davon Tyson intercepted a Taylor Clark pass on St. Albans' third play. Five plays later, Pratt connected with Kashaun Haley for a 53-yard touchdown pass in which Pratt scrambled right, paused and threw to a wide open Haley.

"Back in practice, I always take reps with him [Pratt]," Haley said. "I told him to keep his head up and look for me."

Haley, who is also Pratt's cousin, finished the game with three receptions for 120 yards and two touchdowns for the Cougars (2-0).

"Those two guys [Pratt and Haley] are talented," said coach Jon Carpenter. "I think St. Albans executed as well as we did. We just have some guys that can run a little bit faster. They made big plays.

"Every good quarterback has a receiver and every receiver has a good quarterback."

Haley also returned back-to-back 78-yard kickoff returns in the second half.

Asked if it was the first time he ever returned back-to-back kickoffs, Haley smiled and said, "No. I have never done that. I have only taken back one in a game. But I was so happy because I have never done that before."

Haley has just been one of the beneficiaries of an impressive start by the freshman Pratt, who threw for his second straight 200-yard game. On the season, Pratt has thrown for 448 yards and six touchdowns in two games.

"It's been tough adjusting to high school football," Pratt said. "I had to get used to the speed. Middle school and high school is a whole different level. I have just come out and worked hard at my position."

The Cougars held a 35-0 halftime lead in which they outgained St. Albans 258 total offensive yards to 77. Tyrell Davis scored on a 1-yard run, Tyson returned an interception 50 yards, Pratt hooked up with Haley for a 51-yard touchdown pass, their second of the night, and Pratt rushed for an 18-yard touchdown in the first half.

The excitement for the home side came in the fourth quarter when the Red Dragons scored on a 6-yard run by Doug Mills, a Jacob Grigsby 60-yard pass from Noah Reed and a Dakota Kelly 54-yard pass from Reed.

Each time the Red Dragons scored, the Cougars returned the ensuing kickoff for scores. Two were returned by Haley and Davis returned one 65 yards. There was a total of 55 points scored in the fourth quarter.

"I've never seen that before," Carpenter said of the three consecutive kickoff returns for TDs. "I'm tickled to death at that. I wouldn't kick it to No. 6 [Haley]."

"I thought we played well early and they made some big plays," said SA coach Steve Stoffel Jr. "It's an attitude thing that we are trying to change down here. I want them to understand one big play doesn't constitute a loss. We came out and fought."